Mr. Benson replies:

I Realise That in Mr. Boyes's pantheon of directors, Fellini is God and Lester is Jesus, but his haste to dis-avow any similarity between The Deity and Antonioni is misplaced.

Although the fact may leave him benumbed, it is nevertheless true that some people have been as unmoved by Fellini's later films as they have been by Blow Up and La Notte — Pauline Kael, for instance, whose brilliant analysis of these films in I Lost It At The Movies is worth locking up.

It seems to me that insofar as themes are concerned valid comparisons can be made between Blow Up and, say. La Dolce Vita. Mr. Boyes may regard this as a "misinterpretation," but it is a view which I shall continue to hold and expound. (For the information of these interested. Miss Kael's illuminating review of Blow Up will be found in The New Republic, Feb. 11. 1967— Periodicals Room. Vic Library).

Rex Benson.